A Fort Bliss soldier's wife, who twice reneged on previous plea deals at the last minute, finally agreed to plead guilty to shooting him but denied it was an attempt to prevent a divorce.

Arely Brigette Ruiz, 23, pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to one count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury in the Jan. 16 shooting of her husband, Luis Manuel Beltran, a corporal stationed at Fort Bliss, at their home on the post, according to court records.

As part of the plea agreement, one count each of assault with intent to murder and violent crime/drug/machine against her were dismissed.

A sentencing date was set for Dec. 20. Ruiz is facing up to 10 years in prison on the assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

As part of the third plea agreement, federal prosecutors are recommending that Ruiz be sentenced to between six to 10 years in prison, according to court records.

The sentence will be determined by the judge.

The case against Ruiz took several bizarre turns since her arrest Jan. 19.

Ruiz originally reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors in July in which she would enter a guilty plea to one count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury with the other charges being dismissed.

She appeared before a federal judge July 18 during a plea hearing in which she was expected to officially plead guilty to the charge as laid out in the plea agreement.

As U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert F. Castañeda asked Ruiz what her plea was, she looked confused and answered no.

After a brief private discussion with her lawyer, Shane Michael McMahon, Ruiz then said, “Yes, I’ll just say yes."

Castañeda, along with McMahon, advised her not to plead guilty if she didn’t agree that she had committed the crime.

Castañeda then sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone, who was the original trial judge in the case.

Ruiz was ordered to undergo a medical examination. The examination, which was conducted by El Paso psychologist James Schutte, showed no mental or physical issues that prevented her from pleading in the case or from going to trial, according to court records.

She then once again agreed to a plea agreement with federal prosecutors in September. This time, the plea agreement entailed Ruiz pleading guilty to the higher charge of assault with the intent to murder.

Ruiz appeared before Cardone on Sept. 26, and she once again was expected to officially enter a guilty plea.

Cardone warned Ruiz that she had previously backed out of an agreement that would have allowed her to plead to a lesser charge, but Ruiz said that she did not want to plead to the lesser count.

As federal prosecutors read the criminal complaint against Ruiz, which stated that she told investigators she wanted her husband dead and wanted to kill herself, Ruiz continuously shook her head no.

Cardone then asked Ruiz if the complaint was correct and whether she still was pleading guilty to the charge. Ruiz abruptly said no and added that she never said she wanted her husband dead.

She was then asked by Cardone several times whether she intentionally shot her husband, and, if so, why she did it.

Ruiz said no, resulting in Cardone throwing out the plea agreement.

Cardone then set a status hearing for Oct. 6 to give Ruiz time to discuss the issue with her lawyer and set a trial date, if needed, for Dec. 11.

A third plea agreement was reached this month with federal prosecutors, and Ruiz finally pleaded guilty Friday before Cardone to one count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

After prosecutors once again read the criminal complaint against Ruiz, McMahon said that Ruiz wanted to clarify for the record the statements prosecutors claimed she made.

McMahon said Ruiz continued to deny that she said, “I would rather have you dead than divorced,” but agreed “in the factual basis that that is what Beltran told agents,” according to court records.

Also, Ruiz admitted that she told agents “it would be so easy to just kill him and then myself,” but argued that prosecutors “cherry-picked” that statement from a large conversation that was filled with contradicting statements.

McMahon added, “Since that (the statement) doesn’t affect the charge in the indictment she is pleading guilty to, she would just object to that line.”

Cardone replied, “To my understanding, Mr. McMahon, she objects to certain statements and perhaps the way they were framed, but she does not deny the actions or what happened on that day.”

McMahon and Ruiz agreed.

Cardone then accepted the guilty plea by Ruiz.

Prosecutors requested that Ruiz’s objections be clarified further since the statements showed the state of mind Ruiz was in during the shooting and would play a role in the sentencing phase.

Cardone ruled that the issue could be brought up again by prosecutors during the sentencing hearing.